Pride in New York
by ceh92
Summary: Elizabeth goes to NYU when she meets the extremely cute Will Darcy. Will they hit it off, or will he be unable to get over his pride?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Oh sorry!" I stammered to the person that I ran into as I walked out of my class. I looked up and was completely flustered. Standing in front of me was a tall really cute guy with brown hair and brown eyes.

"S'okay, my fault." he mumbled and walked right on past.

"That was Will Darcy! He inherited like three companies when his father died at the age of fifteen. He's one of the wealthiest bachelors in the U.S." My best friend and room mate, Charlotte, told me. "He's a sophomore this year, take a guess at what he's studying."

"International business?" I asked.

"How'd you know?"

"Darcy Inc. is a huge international corporation. I just assumed that was him."

"Oh. Well he's ridiculously hot, but really proud and standoffish.

Charlotte knows everything about everyone. She's studying to be an investigative journalist and is already really good at it. I'm in pre-law. But unlike Charlotte, whose parents can afford to pay the tuition for NYU, I'm on full scholarship.

Charlotte and I both live in off-campus dorms that house four people in a suite. The suite has 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, and a living area. My older sister, Jane, and her roommate, Cheryl, live with us but Cheryl's hardly there because her boyfriend goes here too so she only comes to sleep. Jane is also on a full scholarship in English literature. I tell she and Charlotte everything.

This is Charlotte and my freshman year and, coming from a small town in Illinois, NYU is a whole other planet. With so many people and buildings, thank the sweet lord for orientations and maps. However, I was just glad to finally be free of my poor mother. She is always way too concerned about the fact that I don't date. I never had time when maintaining a high GPA so I could get into a good school on scholarship. Besides that, I'm obviously not her favorite daughter because I take after my dad. So I was more than happy to move away from her comments on my weight and looks.

I have three younger sisters: Mary, Lindsey, and Kathy. Mary follows her own path, she wears all black and likes all the screamo music, while the other two are terribly concerned about their looks and popularity. My mother loves them, of course.

So, Charlotte and I are walking into our dorm building when we see a flyer on the bulletin board announcing a party that night.

"Ohmygosh! I heard about this! Will Darcy and his super cute roommate are going to be there! We have to go Liz!"

"I don't know, I have a paper due in two days." I said as I walked up the stairs.

"I know that you finished that paper last week, Elizabeth Ann Bennet. You're going to this party. And who knows," She winked, "I may find it in my heart to introduce you to Will and his room mate, Charles Bingley."

"And how would you do that when you don't even know them?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Charles' sister, Caroline, is in my journalism intro class."

"Oh, okay."

"So you'll go?"

"Fine" I sighed. "But you have to pick out my outfit, I really don't feel like choosing"

"Yes!" She hugged me. "You're the best friend ever!"

**A/N: This is my first (published) fanfic. Let me know if you think it's a decent idea or not. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**So I'm sorry I take forever but I'm in only AP and Honors classes so my homework load sucks. **

Ch 2

"I'm not wearing that." I said determinedly.

Charlotte was standing in the doorway to the living room, holding up a very mini skirt and a tank top.

"Why not?"

"Um I don't want to look like a slut? Duh"

"You have to get guys to notice you"

"Not like that I don't. Something more conservative, please"

"Ugh!" She stomped back into the room and came back in about ten seconds with an eighteenth century dress. She smiled smugly.

"This conservative enough?" I threw a couch pillow at her. She dodged it and ran back inside.

"OMG! This is it!" She was holding a blue dress of hers, my dark wash jeans, and my black heels.

"Now that I'll wear."

The party was at some frat house. There were a ton of people there, all drinking and dancing. Charlotte lead Jane and I in. (I forced Jane to come so I'd have someone to talk to when Charlotte ditched me to dance with some guy.) Charlotte immediately walked over to a very pretty, brunette girl that wore only designer clothes. She had a smug look on her face, like she was cool and she knew it.

"Hey Caroline" _(A/N: My name is Caroline and I'm not too fond of her for besmirching my name. So I'm making her super mean in payment for making my name suck) _

"Oh, Hi." She smiled insincerely.

"These are my room mates, Jane and Liz Bennet. And this is Caroline Bingley."

"It's nice to meet you. I've heard many good things about you." Jane said. Jane is so nice to everyone, she can't ever see through any false acts such as the one right in front of us.

"Likewise"

Charlotte must have seen someone because pointed through the crowd.

"Caroline, isn't that your brother and his room mate?" Caroline looked where she pointed and nodded.

"Would you introduce us? I've heard a lot about them."

"Sure." She seemed mad to have the attention taken off her. She waved over two tall, very hot guys. One was the guy I'd run into earlier that day, and I assumed the other was Charles.

Charles had straight blonde hair, blue eyes, and a huge smile; a huge contrast to Will who dark hair and eyes were further darkened by the stoic expression on his face.

"Will, Charlie: this is Charlotte, Jane and Liz. Charlotte's in my journalism class." Will nodded to each of us, inspecting us curiously while Charlie's smile never left his face as he shook our hands and said hello.

"So nice to meet you! Call me Charlie." He was really enthusiastic. "So where are you three staying?"

"The Franklin Dorms. What about you?" I replied.

"The same! I can't believe I haven't met you yet!"

"Oh, well Charlotte and I are freshmen but Jane's a sophomore."

She looked up shyly, "I lived off campus last year though."

"Oh. We're sophomores as well. Jane do you wanna dance with me?" he asked. She simply nodded her head.

"Great! It was wonderful meeting you Liz and Charlotte!" he called as he pulled her over to where a bunch of people were dancing.

I looked over to study the other two standing with us. Caroline kept trying to catch Will's eye. I couldn't figure out why until it hit me, she liked him! 'This should be interesting,' I thought, Caroline seemed like one of those girls who throws herself at whatever guy she liked at the moment. All of her eyeing failed because when I glanced at Will, he was staring me down.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" he asked me.

"I don't think so. Unless you've been to Ashton, Illinois." I joked.

"I really doubt it." A really really awkward silence followed. (Normally I avoid these by bringing up a random topic however, it was hard to gather my thoughts fast enough)

"Er," Will said, finally, "What're you two majoring in?"

"Pre-law."

"Journalism." Charlotte smiled. "Actually I see someone from my class over there, I'll see you all later!" _(I live in Texas and you have no idea how hard it is not to use the word y'all, yes, we do say that, and no, I don't ride my horse to school.)_

"What are you guys majoring in?" I asked them. Caroline hadn't spoken in a while.

"I'm in journalism as well. Will's majoring in international business. Isn't that so cute?" she was trying to be flirty with Will.

"Um….sure?" I really didn't see anything remotely cute about international business.

Caroline tried to grab his arm in a couple-y way but he inconspicuously shrugged her off. I was trying really hard not to laugh like crazy. It was so funny. So we just stood there talking about many generic awkward things until I finally excused myself to the bathroom.

I knew Charlotte would ditch me but, I never expected Jane to. Nonetheless, I was happy for her. She and Charlie were really cute whenever I walked by. I think they'd be a great couple and she looked like she was having fun.

When I came out of the bathroom I could hear voices talking quietly down the hall.

"Man, don't be such a baby. Dance with someone, you're spoiling the party." I heard Charlie's voice.

"Who am I supposed to dance with, Charlie?" Will's voice asked harshly.

"What about Jane's sister, Liz, she's cute and smart. You'd have fun with her."

"Yeah, she's cute I guess, but not that cute. You've got the only worthy chick here, one that's really hot and can keep a secret longer than three seconds."

"Are you making fun of Caroline?" Charlie asked, jokingly.

"Of course. That journalism degree is just gonna go towards gossip rags. And she's always bothering me, why can't she find someone else?"

"Sorry, dude. I can't help that my sister's crazy for you. But really dance with Liz, she seems like she's really nice and would be your type."

"I don't think so."

"Suit yourself." I heard him walk away. Then I made a lot of racket of coming out of the bathroom and walked straight past Will, not even acknowledging his presence. I saw his jaw drop out of the corner of my eye, but kept walking.

_A/N-The hurricane's coming this way so I'm gonna be a good writer and write on paper while it hits. I know, I'm dedicated but I probably won't have power for a few days and my dad won't wanna use the generator just to use the computer, so sorry._


	3. Chapter 3

_AN: I am so incredibly sorry. I know how annoying it is to find a story that never gets updated but it's hard. But I wont bore you with all my excuses cause no one reads these anyway. So here it is- _

Chapter 3

"Ugh!" I wanted to throw my alarm clock across the room but I didn't. I got up like a good nerd, grabbed my bag, and headed for the library. Charlotte didn't even stir when I closed the door to our room, I think she drank more than she's used to the night before.

I had pulled her and Jane out of the party not long after overhearing Charlie and Will's conversation in the hall. They were both completely surprised (though Charlotte was definitely louder about it). Jane had a good time and had even given Charlie her phone number. I was excited for her, he seemed really nice.

I finally reached the library ten minutes early for the study group. This guy in my Spanish class invited me to it because I wasn't too efficient in Spanish but I needed it to graduate. I sat at a table and started reading over my notes.

"Are you here for Spanish as well?" I heard a voice say from over my shoulder, I turned around quickly only to see Will Darcy, standing there looking extremely cute.

" How'd you know?"

He pointed to my Spanish dictionary and smiled.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry I just woke up, you'll have to forgive me." He just stood there. "Oh! Please sit down. Will, wasn't it?" I moved my stuff out of the chair to my right. I knew I should have been furious with him about last night, but I really wasn't. I didn't approve of his shallowness and his pretentious attitude upset me, but I decided to be the better person and start over, sort of.

"Did you enjoy the party last night?" he asked

"Oh, it was okay. I like parties but I promised myself I wouldn't get into that college party scene. Did you?"

"I'm not much of a partier either. I really don't like being around so many people."

"Well aren't you studying for business? Shouldn't you learn to deal with a lot of people?" He looked shocked that someone had questioned him, I guess it doesn't happen too often.

"How did you know I was studying business?"

"My roommate is studying investigative journalism, she knows everything and tells me everything. More than I want to hear, actually."

"Oh, well. I'm not very good with dealing with people I don't know, I've never been."

"Aren't you sort of doing that right now? You should learn to talk to people. Business men can't afford to be shy."

He chuckled to himself, "Well, you certainly don't go down without a fight. You'll be a good attorney."

I smiled, "Thanks, and I'm sure you can get over the shy factor. I've known people who've done it."

Then, Collin walked up. He was the guy who had invited me to the study group, he was short, barely my height with blond hair and no body fat. He was nice, but I couldn't be around him for very long without wanting to hurt myself. Collin talked all the time but hardly ever made sense.

"Hey Liz!" he smiled at me but kind of scowled at Will. "I see you've met Will Darcy. He's offered to help our group with Spanish."

I looked at Will curiously, "Help us?" He looked embarassed.

" I've been taking Spanish lessons since I was 10. I'm pretty fluent." He shrugged.

The rest of the group started to show up then, I didn't know many people but I recognized a one guy from my class. He came and sat next to me, pulling up a chair next to Collin, who was attempting to tell me about something he was studying in philosophy. The guy put his book on the table and turned to me with his hand out.

"Hi, I'm Scott." I shook his hand.

"Liz. Nice to meet you. Do you know Collin?" I gestured towards him. Scott shook his head and shook Collin's hand.

"Will, do you know Scott?" I said, turning around to face Will. He had a mean look on his face. He looked Scott in the eye and said,

"We've met." He got up to ask someone on the other side of the table if they needed help.

"Oh, well. That was weird." Scott acted like he didn't hear me so I decided not to press the issue.

The study group actually helped me alot, I fixed all of the dumb mistakes I'd been making. When people started to leave, Scott and I were still talking about where we grew up. And Collin was listening and putting in comments randomly. When we reached the corner Scott said,

"Well, it was cool meeting you but I live this way. See you guys in Spanish." He walked off, with a smirk in my direction, leaving me with Collin. Ugh.

"So, Liz. Do you wanna go get a coffee or something?"

"Oh, um." I tried to think of a quick excuse."I actually was heading back to meet my sister, sorry."

"Oh, okay. Maybe some other time then. See you." And he walked the other direction.

I felt kind of bad for turning him down but I didn't want to lead him on. That's even worse.

On the walk to my dorm, I couldn't help but wonder why Will was so cold towards Scott. He seemed like a nice guy, Will seemed unreasonable. He just kept finding ways to keep me from liking him. I decided to ask Scott about it the next chance I got.


	4. Chapter 4

_AN: So I've totally gone in a different direction than originally intended in this story, and I've kind of strayed from the story. Well there's not much I can do now. _

Chapter 4

When I got back to our dorm, Jane and Charlotte were studying in the living room around the coffee table. Jane was smiling foolishly to herself so I knew something was up.

"Okay Jane. What happened?" She looked up from her notes.

"You know that guy, Charlie, from last night?"

"Yeah."

"Well he called me earlier, and we're going to lunch tomorrow!"

"He obviously hasn't heard of the twenty-four hour rule." I said but I couldn't help smiling with her.

Charlotte looked up at me, slightly annoyed, "Liz, Charlie Bingley is known to be overeager about everything, give him a break."

I ignored her, "Jane! I'm excited for you. He seemed really nice."

"He is, we have a lot in common, too."

"Well, that's exciting. You're gonna have to tell us all about it tomorrow. Right now I'm going to study but let's do something just girls tonight. Kay?"

Charlotte looked up again, "Movie night? Pleaaaase?"

"Sure. Movie night." I went into our room to study for my philosophy class.

That night we had fun watching movies and eating ice cream. It was nice to hang out with the girls and not be studying. I even let Charlotte do my make up. We, or should I say she, helped Jane pick out an outfit for her lunch date and Charlotte told us all of the latest gossip.

The next morning I woke up somewhat early and decided to walk around campus to avoid studying. So I got dressed in jeans and a v neck, grabbed my coat- the New York weather was getting colder and colder- and left.

About twenty minutes into my walk, I saw Scott walking out of a dorm. He smiled when he saw me and walked over.

"Hey, what're you up to?"

"Walking aimlessly. Where are you going?"

"I was headed to the rec center. Wanna walk that way?"

"Sounds fun." We started walking that direction.

"So what did you do yesterday after that oh so interesting study session?"

"I went home and studied more. Then my roommates and I had movie night."

"That sounds fun, besides the studying part. That session was somewhat awkward."

"How so?"

"Well you probably noticed the cold greeting Will Darcy gave me."

"Yeah. I didn't want to say anything about it."

"You know that Will's family owns Darcy Inc, right?" I nodded.

"Well, my dad was Mr. Darcy's good friend who also ran the building we lived in, which the Darcy's owned. But my dad died when I was little so Mr. Darcy always treated me as his own son, which made Will jealous. Mr. Darcy promised to help put me through school abroad one day."

"Wow."

"Yeah, well Mr. and Mrs. Darcy died in an accident when Will and I were 15 and his sister, Georgiana, was only 13. Will inherited everything and his guardian, his uncle, always let Will make the decisions."

"When we were juniors I asked Will to pay for school in Europe my senior year but he refused the money, forcing me to stay in public school. I worked really hard my senior year, hoping that Will would at least put a good word for me to get accepted to school in England but he didn't."

"Oh my."

"Well, here I am. On scholarship and scraping my way." We had reached the rec center but he didn't go inside. We just kept talking.

"That's so horrible! Didn't his dad write it in his will?"

"No. His death was so unexpected, he didn't think he would have to. But it's okay, I'm doing fine now and I wouldn't have met you if I had gone away." He smiled.

"Well that's true. I just can't believe even Will can be that heartless."

"His outer appearance can be deceiving. Enough about that, I was going play basketball right now. But maybe tonight would you wanna go to dinner?"

"Sure. Sounds great"

"Where should I meet you? Outside your dorms?"

"Sure. I'm at Franklin."

"Alright. Six o'clock?" I nodded and walked back in the direction of my dorms.

I was excited for my date but at the same time I was really upset about the story Scott had told me. I couldn't believe anyone could be so cruel.

Will Darcy was starting to really annoy me.

_Well, I've done okay, I think. Two chapters in one weekend. I know it doesn't make up for the months I didn't update sorry. Let me know what you think!_


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